Date: Sat, 09 Feb 2002 17:17:30 +0000
From: James
Subject: Boy Bands - On The Streets - Parts 20-21
Ok, I don't know the BSB, nor do I know any other celebrities, particularly
those portrayed in this story: N'Sync, Britney Spears...
I don't know the sexuality of any of these celebrities and I don't claim to.
This story is entirely fictitious, and the author accepts no responsibility
for any of the twisted and sick storylines which appear. But nonetheless, I
would like to suggest that everyone read this story, just for a bit of
fun...enjoy this chapter.
Last Time:
Eventually, Kevin and I, and Justin and Britney were the only ones left.
"Are you excited guys?" Kevin asked them.
"I can't wait." Justin answered as he wrapped his arms around Britney's
waist from behind, and rested his chin on her shoulder. It was almost
midnight now.
"Hey, it's almost the day of your wedding, you two aren't supposed to see
each other before the service!" Kevin said with a grin on his face.
"Silly superstition." Justin mumbled. We heard a church bell in the
distance strike 12. Justin and Britney both shrugged their shoulders. Kevin
and I finally excused ourselves and went back to our suite, Justin and
Britney said they wouldn't be far behind. Kevin and I both settled into bed
and wrapped up close, though we knew we wouldn't stay like that through the
night.
"Goodnight Kev." I said as my eyes drooped shut.
"Goodnight Jared." Kevin answered back.
Chapter 20
The following day was started with a gentle knocking on the door of Kev's
and my suite. Kevin, annoyingly, managed to sleep through the sound, but it
was too incessant for me to just turn over and go back to sleep, so I
finally pulled myself out of bed, pulled on some trousers and went to answer
the door. Standing at the door in a pair of sweats and a tank top was
Britney, looking a little lost.
"What's wrong Britney?"
"Can I come in?" She asked hopefully.
"Sure, go through and sit down, do you want anything, drink or eat?"
"No, thank you." She put on a slight smile, and went through to sit on one
of the couches.
"Do you want me to wake up Kevin?"
"NO!" Britney whispered loudly. "I just want to talk Jared, I'm nervous, my
friends are coming in today, and I'm worried about them, and I'm just so
worried about so much. What if it's too soon, what if I'm too young? How am
I supposed to know if Justin is the one?"
"Britney, does he make you feel how no-one else does?" She thought for a
moment, then nodded. "Do you want to spend the rest of your life with him?"
"That's the thing, it's so long, I mean it could be 60 years, I don't know,
it just seems like such a huge step." Britney was almost in tears now, I
felt so sorry for her: her friends weren't here yet, nor was her mum, and
the only people who were present were members of boybands who were basically
closer to Justin than they were to her. I guess I was what she considered
'neutral ground'. "Do you love Kevin, Jared?"
"Yes." I answered without hesitating. I had finally got over the initial
wavering of whether I loved Kevin or not, and I came to the conclusion both
with my heart and with my mind that I did.
"How do you know? Could you spend the rest of your life with him?" I had to
think for a moment.
"Britney let me ask you something. Do you love Justin up here?" And I
pointed to her temples.
"What do you mean?"
"Is Justin a friend? Do you love him at least partially because, well for
logical reasons? Can you understand why you love Justin?"
"Yes, I think so. I've known him for so long, we are friends, we were
friends for a long time before we ever started dating seriously. I guess
Justin's always been there for me, and he's put his own needs behind him so
that he can put me first, I love him for both of those things." She
answered.
"Right, now comes the hard bit. We know now that you love him up here." I
pointed to her head again. "But do you love him here?" And I pointed to her
heart.
"I don't know!"
"Britney what would you give to make Justin happy?"
"I'd give everything." She answered immediately.
"I think you've got your answer: Justin means more to you than everything
else." I said. She looked down for a second, thinking through what she had
said, and what I had said.
"Lordy! You're right, oh thank you Jared!" She reached over and hugged me.
I smiled back at her as she pulled away.
"Now, I'd like to ask you something, well, your wedding is today and
everything, I kind of expected there to be more guests, where is everybody?"
Britney smirked at me.
"Well, you know that media blackout thing, that we were aiming for?" She
asked, her Southern accent thick. I nodded. "Well, to try and keep the
reporters off the trail, what we did was, we flew all our guests over to
Europe about three or four days ago, and we put them in hotels across
Europe, from Budapest to Dublin. That way, the reporters will be confused
about where the actual location is, because we know that some of our friends
are followed regularly to work out where we are, and it also gives them a
chance to get used to the time zone, so we can all be in the same time zone
for the big day, today!" I chuckled at Britney's exuberance at their master
plan: it was quite clever actually, but anyway...
"Hello?" I heard Kevin's voice shout out.
"I'm in here Kev." I answered. Kevin came into the living room wearing a
pair of sweats and nothing on his top half.
"Hey, oh, Britney, hey are you ok?" Kevin asked, noticing Britney's
expression.
"Ummm, Kevin, have you been working out with Jared?" She asked with a
confused look on her face.
"Yeah...why?" Kevin asked.
"Ummm, well, you just look a bit better than you did before, heck with
that, you've got a better body than any of the guys here!" She exclaimed.
Kevin and I both started chuckling. Kevin had been working out, and after
his little episode, I started writing up complete diets for him. We worked
out together more regularly than with the other guys, I know that might be a
bit unfair, but I was still performing all the necessary duties with the
other guys, and I Kevin was the happiest I'd ever seen him. Only problem
that came with working out as much as we had done was that Kevin lost about
an inch off his waist from the time I took up the position as the guys'
fitness instructor, so none of his trousers really fit. All the costume
people were grumbling about it constantly. Also his arms, and to a lesser
extent, his chest had changed proportions. Kevin was fast approaching the
age where he would no longer be able to adjust his proportions very easily,
so it was important now to get to a point where he was happy with his shape:
he was not yet. I think he wanted to be closer to my size, so he had a bit
more work to do, but with the way it was going, Kevin seemed really proud,
and he didn't mind walking around without his shirt on anymore. "I don't get
it - why didn't I notice that Kevin's body had changed so much before?" She
asked looking between me and Kevin. I looked back at Kevin, and we both
shrugged.
"Maybe you were paying attention to Justin instead?" I asked, hoping the
answer would enlighten her a bit more.
"Yes, maybe that's it, then again maybe it was just because he was standing
next to you!" And she started giggling. Kevin and I both gave her strange
looks, but then shrugged and chuckled a bit. We asked Britney to join us for
breakfast, her friends would be here in about an hour, and I agreed to go
with Britney to pick them up. The other guys had breakfast in Brian's room
as Kevin phoned them up, and basically told them to stay over there - I had
told him when we had gone into the bedroom to get dressed that she might
feel overwhelmed, or less on neutral ground, if all the other guys were
there. Britney, Kevin and I all ate, talking about things not related to the
wedding: when Britney would be back to work, what about N'Sync, how many of
her friends were coming, what her family was like, that sort of thing,
trying to skirt around the wedding, but we found it increasingly difficult,
and we ended up just going over what Britney was doing today in the lead up
to the wedding. Apparently she had one more fitting to go to, then she was
basically done. The wedding was at 4, thankfully it was November, so the
heat wouldn't be so bad, Capri in summer wouldn't be funny at that time of
the day.
After breakfast, Britney and I took a limo to the airport. Another limo
followed behind, for the apparently quite large number of Britney's friends
and family who would be arriving shortly. Apparently, this wasn't enough,
and one of the limos would have to make at least a couple of trips. Around
11:30 was the time of the first arrival. Britney and I stood and waited for
the first load of friends to arrive. Basically, because it was November, and
because about half the island had been reserved by the Timberlake-Spears,
there was no-one else coming in, apart from those invited to the wedding.
When the first plane arrived, we saw that the next plane would be arriving
about two minutes later - an unfortunate occurrence. Britney carried on
jumping around to see which of the guests would arrive first. She knew where
the plane was coming from: Berlin, but apparently there were two flights
coming from there, she had deposited about 20 people there apparently, and
they were doing lay-over flights, hoping to make it more difficult for the
reporters to follow. So, the first flight's doors opened, and the people
started streaming out. I looked over at Britney, when all of a sudden I
heard an ear-piercing scream, and Britney got an exasperated look on her
face. "Christina." She mumbled. Suddenly a shock of blonde hair flew past
me, and was hugging Britney. A slightly taller girl, though without the
impressive figure of Britney was gripping her around the shoulders. Britney
looked over her shoulder at me, with a depressed expression on her face.
"Hey Christina!" Britney said as she shoved the girl away. "I'd like you to
meet Jared."
"Nice to meet you." She held out her hand to me, and I shook it gently. "So
Britney, are you psyched about the big day?" Christina asked in the sort of
voice you expect to hear at a girls' slumber party.
"Yeah Christina, I'm really excited." Suddenly, we heard more voices coming
up the ramp, the rest of the passengers off Christina's plane. "Becky!
Melia!" Britney shouted as they grew closer. The girls coming up the ramp
dropped their bags, and came running towards Britney. Both seemed quite
tired, but ran as fast as they could to reach their friend. All three girls
hugged viciously, seemingly cutting off each others' throats. Britney picked
up one of each of their bags, and came walking back towards where Christina
and I were standing. "Jared, I'd like you to meet my best friends, Becky,
and Melia." She nodded to each of them as she said their names. Each of them
held out their hands in turn and I shook them.
"He doesn't say much does he Britney?" Christina asked. I think I heard a
growl come from somewhere in Britney's throat, but I couldn't be sure if it
was her or on of the other girls.
"I can speak plenty when I need to." I answered before Britney could
respond.
"Jared is Kevin's boyfriend." Britney said to the three other girls. They
all murmured a little, then Christina had to open her big mouth again.
"Kevin's? I thought maybe you were Nick's, but I would have never said you
would have gone out with Kevin! I mean look at you!" She said in that high,
screechy voice. I could feel my fist start to clench, this girl was probably
the first girl I had ever, and I mean ever actually wanted to just hit, as
hard as I could.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked with a sneer on my lips. I could
see the other three girls out of the corner of my eye all take a step back
at the tone in my voice.
"Oh, nothing, ummm, I mean, it's just, oh I don't know, you know what I
mean, I just meant, that, well..." She started babbling.
"There's a limo over there, I suggest you take your bags, and go wait in
it." I said in the firmest tone I could muster. She looked over at Britney,
but Britney and the other two girls were looking everywhere but back at her,
so, with the smallest stamp of her feet that she thought she could muster
without angering me any further, she picked up her bags and carried them
over to the limo where she deposited them before climbing in the back,
without a second glance back at the rest of us. "I'm so sorry Britney." I
said, unable to meet her face. I suddenly felt really bad. I had preached to
Kevin about how I felt about people with a temper, and I had gone and let my
temper get the better of me. I felt so stupid, and so bad.
"Don't be silly Jared." She came over to me and put her arms around me.
"You did actually what she deserved. In fact, I thought what you did was
quite reserved. She coulda got a lot worse!" Both of the other girls started
chuckling, and I just smirked: I still felt really stupid that I could do
something so nasty, and so quick-tempered.
"Britney!" Came a high-pitched, little girl's voice from the ramp.
"Jamie!" Britney screamed back. She ran down the ramp towards the girl who
appeared to be a smaller, somewhat less developed version of herself. The
girl appeared to be 11 or 12, but it was hard to tell, maybe a bit younger.
The two hugged, the younger girl in Britney's arms. They were talking
quietly, I could hear bits about how happy they were to see each other, and
so on. Finally, they came walking back to us at the top of the ramp which
the guys and I had walked up just the day before. "Jamie, this is Jared,
Jared, this is Jamie." Britney said, beaming with pride. The girl, who
couldn't have stood much over 5 foot, held out her hand and I gladly shook
it. "Jamie is my sister Jared."
"I guessed - the resemblance, well, it gives it away." I said with a smirk
on my face.
"Jared? So you're Kevin's boyfriend?" Jamie asked.
"How did you know about that?" Britney asked as she looked down at her
sister. She had only just told Becky and Melia and they had all been
together for the last few days, so...
"Mum told me. Apparently, she spoke to Aunt Lynn, and that's how she found
out, and then she thought she had to phone me up and warn me not to stare if
I saw two men dancing together on the dance floor! I mean how stupid does
she think I am? I've seen JC and Jimmy together before, so what difference
should it make?" She ranted on and on. Britney was standing slightly behind
her and was holding her hand making flapping motions with it as if her hand
was the petite girl's mouth and she was wording the ravings of her younger
sister. I started laughing when I saw Britney's actions and her sister
turned quickly. "Oh!" She shouted as she gave Britney a playful slap on the
arm.
The other guests came up the ramp shortly after. There was another six in
total, on top of Becky, Melia, Jamie and Christina (shudder at the name).
They were all distant cousins of Britney, and I couldn't for the life of me
remember all their names!
As we approached the limos, Britney finished introducing her most distant
cousins to me and I greeted them all politely. Then we got to the limos, and
Britney and I stood back: one of them had Christina in, and neither of us
wanted to go in that one, so basically, we got Jamie, Becky, Melia, Britney,
myself and one of Britney's cousins into one of the limos, and the other was
for Christina and the remainder of the cousins. We drove back to the hotel
making small talk, mostly Becky and Melia talking to Britney who they
apparently hadn't seen for a while.
Back at the hotel, I met up with Kevin in our suite, and we agreed to have
lunch together down in the hotel restaurant. We sat around as we noticed
more guests arriving: Britney had asked if I would go again with her to pick
up more of her guests, but Kevin had intervened and suggested she take Becky
or Melia. We saw Britney walk through with loads more people, including her
brother, Bryan and her other friends from back home. Justin went out and
picked people up too, including his younger brothers, his parents and their
respective spouses. When Mrs. Harless arrived, she came over and introduced
herself.
"Kevin, it's good to see you again." She said as she hugged Kevin and he
kissed both her cheeks. "And you must be Jared, it's nice to meet you." She
smiled and held out her hand, which I shook. "I'm glad that you two came
together." She told Kevin. "Last time that all of us got together, JC felt
so out of place with Jimmy because they were dancing together. At least with
you two here, he won't feel so out of place." Kevin and I both smiled,
though the statement did sound a little strange.
About 2:30, we all started getting ready for the wedding itself. We noticed
the N'Sync members getting worked up, and really excited the later it got.
Kevin and I retired into our suite, and showered together. We somehow got
into a position where we were just holding each other, our heads resting on
each others' shoulders under the hot spray of the shower. I washed Kevin's
hair for him, and he did the best he could on mine without making the newly
re-tied cornrows come loose. We both shaved and finished in the bathroom,
before heading out to get dressed. At about 3:30, Kevin and I both came out
of the suite, fully decked in our new suits. We checked on the other guys to
make sure they were ready. Nick had already left with Justin and the other
N'Sync members, and Brian, Howie and AJ were basically ready to leave. We
all left the hotel and headed up to the site of the wedding. The white
chairs were set out in rows, which curved gracefully around the whole
structure of the ruins. An elaborate arrangement of flowers had been set up,
to circle the bride, groom and minister when they were on the pedestal at
the front. The chairs had all been labelled with who was supposed to be
sitting where. A lot of guests were already here, and so it was easy to see
where as many of us as there were in the group were to sit. About 10 rows
back from the front, on Justin's side of the chairs, we found them: AJ,
Howie, Brian, Kevin. That was it. Kevin was in the aisle seat. Nick wouldn't
have one: he was part of the service, and was one of Justin's witnesses. But
there was no seat for me. I looked at Kevin for a second. We looked at the
seats in front and behind, but there wasn't one for me. Kevin said he'd go
and talk to the N'Sync people and ask where my seat was: I was kinda hoping
they actually had one: what if they'd forgotten to put one out for me? About
two minutes later, Kevin came back with a frown on his face, and he walked
up to me, then straight past. Kevin was walking down the opposite rows of
seats, across the aisle, and he got to the sixth row from the front, and
pointed to an aisle seat. Confused, I walked up to him and looked at the
seat, which had a label on it with my name written on it in bold, black pen.
"Why am I sat up here?" I asked Kevin.
"Apparently the little princess wants you on her side, you seem to have
made quite an impression on the little bitch." Kevin answered sternly.
"Kevin!" I almost shouted back at him.
"What? I wanted to sit next to you Jared, this isn't fair." Kevin answered,
clearly upset. "She can't just do that - we should be sat together." I
touched Kevin's arm.
"Well, we can do one of two things then, we can start bitching about it,
and if they move us, then we may upset a lot of people, not least the person
whose day this is supposed to be, or we could just accept the seating plan
and remember that we'll be together again soon enough anyway, remember we've
got the reception to go to afterwards anyway." I looked at Kevin, I was
hoping he wouldn't pick the first option.
"Ok Jared, I was just hoping we could sit together, but I guess we'll be
together again soon anyway." He leant over and kissed me on the cheek. I
watched him go back to his seat, and I sat down in my seat. I knew Britney
and I had talked over the last few days quite a bit, but moving me so close
to the front, and over to her side did seem a little excessive - but then
again, I did her know her better already than the groom, so...
About quarter of an hour later, the groom got into position. He actually
had two best men: Nick and JC. A few minutes later, the minister appeared,
and a few minutes after that, some soft music started to herald the arrival
of the bride. Everyone went silent and rose to their feet. When everyone saw
Britney, the silence descended even lower - she looked incredible. She had
gone partially traditional - white dress, including a train behind her that
flowed along the ground, and the upper section of the dress was form
fitting, but the lower half flowed out. Her hair was in plaits, but they had
been coiled up on her head, and flowers were woven into the plaits. Her face
had not been heavily made up, and she looked incredible. She made her way
down the aisle fairly quickly - I always hated those weddings when they play
`here comes the bride' and the bride takes a step every few seconds - it's
just cheesy. As she walked past, she smiled and blushed as she looked at the
people she walked past. As she walked past the guys, she smiled and they all
beamed back, obviously taken aback by her appearance: all I can say is that
she scrubs up REAL good. As she approached me, I smiled and she saw me and
blushed again, then smiled back broadly. Finally she approached the
pedestal, and walked up to face Justin, who was grinning broadly at her.
***
The wedding lasted just over an hour. I carried on glancing back at Kevin,
and he had his eyes on me most of the time. I think he was more upset than
he was even letting on. As Britney and Justin came back down the aisle, we
all stood again and they walked past smiling happily. They both half-waved,
half nodded goodbye to as many guests as they could as they went down the
aisle, even though we would see them all again at the big reception this
evening. We got back to the hotel about 5:30, and Kevin and I went up and
changed into shirt and trousers. The dress code was completely relaxed for
the evening party: Britney had told me she didn't like wearing formal wear
much - a sentiment apparently shared by Justin. The party was due to start
about 7, and Kevin and I were sitting in the living room, just lounging
about until the time swung around. Kevin was really quiet while we were
sitting in the living room.
"Is something wrong Kev?" I asked him as we sat on opposite ends of the
same couch.
"No." He sighed.
"Don't bullshit Kev. Tell me what's wrong."
"It's nothing Jared."
"No! It's obviously bothering you, whatever it is, and I want to know,
especially as for some reason it's stopping you from talking to me."
"Fine. I'm jealous ok?" Kevin answered sharply.
"What? Of what?" I asked, confused.
"You." He answered shortly. There was a long silence, and I just sat there
not quite sure what to answer: how could he be jealous of me? What have I
got that he hasn't? "Jared, I don't know how to explain it, but, well, oh
for god's sake, why is this so hard?" Kevin whined. I moved closer to him,
and took his hand in mine. He looked up sadly into my eyes. "Jared, you
remember when we first met, I told you I was lonely, alone a lot of the
time, and I just wanted someone?" I nodded.
"Yeah, I remember Kev." I was still confused.
"Well, that loneliness wasn't because I wanted it to be that way, I mean
that's pretty obvious, it was because I'm not good with people Jared. I have
trouble just opening up to people, I mean, we're both pretty quiet most of
the time, and I like that, but when you want to be, you can be really open,
and people listen to you, and you listen to them, and you can become friends
with people so quickly. Britney took an instant liking to you, everyone in
N'Sync likes you, even Justin's mom likes you. I just wish I'd had that. I
probably wouldn't have been alone so long, if I had just been able to open
up how you can. That's why I'm jealous, and I hate it, I love you so much
Jared, I should never, ever be jealous of you, but I can't help it. I think
of all the years I spent looking for someone, but failing and I see you, and
it's like you could just be with anyone, it's like everyone loves you so
easily, and I just wish I had that." Kevin's voice broke, and I pulled him
close to me and hugged him. I made shushing noises to calm him down, and
just held him for a while.
"Kevin, do you not remember how everyone treated me when I first arrived?
Not everyone loves me. And as for being able to open up to people, you have
no idea how hard it is. I told Britney what I did before I joined you guys,
but it was so hard getting it out, I almost gave up and just didn't answer
her. I do find it hard Kevin, I have to force myself every time I want to do
something. But Kevin, you have nothing to be jealous about, you could do the
same thing, and as for me being open about my feelings, I've seen you do the
same thing. When you apologised and forgave Nick after the fight you guys
had, you really opened up to him. And when we first met, how you were so
upset because I was a prostitute, so you couldn't be with me, you opened up
then too. Don't worry about being open with your feelings Kevin, they come
to you and you're open about them when you really need them, that's what's
important. I should be the one who's jealous of you Kevin."
"Why?" Kevin asked. He actually seemed confused, and I didn't really want
to go into this.
"Why do you think Kev? You have everything I ever wanted." Kevin scrunched
up his eyebrows. "Kev, look at your life. You have a family who still love
you, you have friends, real friends who care a helluva lot about you, you
have a career, a job which you love, you have everything Kevin. I should be
the one who's jealous."
"You missed off the one thing I have which is more important than all of
them. You." Kevin smiled slightly, then leant forward and kissed me. My eyes
shut, and I savoured the taste of Kevin's lips on mine. I felt his hands cup
onto the sides of my face, and support our faces. I loved this man so much,
I felt like I was gonna explode.
***
Just before 7, Kevin and I went down to the hotel garden, which had been
covered with a huge marquee, and there was a dance area, tables set up all
around, and a raised table where the bride and groom were already sitting.
They came over to greet us, as there were only a few people already in the
place. Kevin and I were holding hands, and it felt so good.
"It's great to see you two, you're some of the first people down here."
Justin stated as he and Britney walked, their arms linked around one another
towards us. Britney had changed into a summer dress, and Justin into shirt
and slacks.
"Thanks, the wedding was really beautiful you guys, so, is it just N'Sync
that are here so far?" Kevin asked.
"Yeah, pretty much." Britney replied. "And their guests for the wedding.
There's Chris and Danni, Lance and Danielle, Joey and, oh what's her name?"
"Cathy." Justin filled in.
"Oh yes, that's it, and JC and Jimmy are just over there." Britney pointed
to JC, who was with a tall dark-haired man over by the flower beds in the
garden area that wasn't covered by the marquee. Kevin and I found our seats
and sat down. We were on the third table. They were all covered in white,
and they had centrepieces of large arrangements of flowers on them. Kevin
and I both sat there drinking out of the jugs of water that had been placed
on the table and watching the other guests arrive. JC and Jimmy we found had
been placed on our table with us - did they think we would be able to talk
to each other because we were all gay? Anyway, it could have been
coincidental - the rest of N'Sync were pretty much spread out. Jimmy was a
latin looking man with dark hair that hung to his shoulders, and he and JC
seemed to joke a lot. Jimmy would lean over and whisper something into his
ear and JC would have a hard time keeping his starter down from all his
laughing. They served the courses pretty quickly, and after the speeches
were done, it was almost 8 o'clock. It was just beginning to get a little
darker outside the marquee, but there were lights around the inside of the
tent, so we were bathed in the luminous glow of the halogen lamps as we all
stood to watch Justin and Britney take the first dance. Once again - they'd
gone traditional, and actually started with a slow dance, that looked a
little like a waltz, though I think neither of them had ever been told how
to do a waltz, so they added in a few steps here and there, it was still
nice to watch though - they were both very graceful, and they were obviously
enjoying themselves. Gradually more and more people joined in, but I hung
back, not sure whether Kevin wanted to dance or not, and not wanting to
force him, though I really, really wanted to. The end of the first song was
playing, and another slow song was starting up when I felt Kevin grab my arm
and jerk me onto the dance floor. I looked at him, and he had a smirk on his
face.
"Let's show them how to dance." Kevin said in a husky voice in my ear. Ok,
now what happened next, at least for me, was kind of embarrassing. While I
didn't mind dancing club-style with another man, dancing ballroom-style,
which is what Kevin launched us into, was kind of embarrassing. I felt
really weird as we spun around the floor, narrowly avoiding some of the
other dancers. Suddenly, I noticed as my eyes settled on someone before they
were spun off, that Jimmy and JC were following us, doing pretty much the
same moves. We moved in a spiral as we spun, getting closer and closer to
the centre of the dance floor, which Britney and Justin had vacated after
the first dance. A lot of people had now stopped, and were staring at us as
moved quicker and quicker. I could see Kevin's head flicking from side to
side with each spin, and every time I missed my footing, he caught me up
with a quick lurch forward. Once we reached the centre floor, we moved in
very small circles around the very centre of the platform. JC and Jimmy
joined us a moment later, and we moved in circles around one another. We
never touched them and they just moved around and around, like two atoms
orbiting one another, while orbiting themselves. I knew everyone on the
dance floor was watching now, and when the music died down there was
silence, before some people started clapping, and soon enough all of them
were joining in.
***
The wedding was tiring: Kevin and I danced a lot more, but occasionally we
were split up as people asked to dance with us. Britney asked to dance with
me once and I agreed, but Justin cut in half way through, which I didn't
really bother about: by that time, my feet were killing me. Britney seemed
very happy - the smile never left her face, and Justin was smiling at her
the whole time, I was really happy for them.
Kevin and I went up to our suite just after midnight, and fell asleep in
each others' arms. We were leaving tomorrow for Scandinavia, but the past
few days had been so happy, our birthdays, the wedding, we just didn't want
to leave it behind just yet.
***
Leaving the following morning was difficult: none of us really wanted to
leave this paradise for the wintry north, but it was to be, and we headed
off at about 10 the next morning for Norway. It was hard for me to say
goodbye to Britney, she was another friend I'd only just made, and we had
shared a lot even though we'd only really had a couple of days together. I
think she was a bit upset too, but she was obviously still happy after
yesterday, so I think that made up for it. We all hugged goodbye, and left
Britney and Justin on the ramp where I had waited with Britney for her
guests just yesterday.
Chapter 21
Scandinavia was cold. That was it. It was cold. Nothing else, just cold. Of
all the stupid times to come to Norway: November, middle of winter. Idiots.
Whoever planned this tour obviously had his stupid hat on that day. The guys
performed in the capitals of Norway, Sweden and Finland, and actually ended
up doing a couple of signings in Denmark, but they didn't perform there.
We were in Russia by the 10th of November. Ever wonder why Napoleon and
Hitler were both unable to conquer Russia? The Russian winter. This had to
be the coldest I have ever experienced in my life. I normally prefer cold
weather, or at least being cool rather than hot, but this was ludicrous: it
was even colder than Norway. I hardly left the hotel except to go the first
performance of the guys. It was cold in the stadium too, and I had to wear
the guys' coats which they weren't wearing while they were on stage. I
didn't go out again after that except in the limo, which I hardly got out
of. I did take a couple of pics of the guys in front of the Kremlin in
Moscow, and when we went to St. Petersburg, the pics were of them in front
of the Rostral Columns. Thank god it was only a week, and by the 17th we
were on the plane again. We left the tour buses behind - they were to be
placed on a cargo plane and taken back to the US. We were on our way to
China. I'd always wanted to visit China, something about it just seemed
really exciting. Fortunately Kevin was also excited about the visit.
Apparently we would be there until the 3rd of December when we would leave
for Japan, for two concerts there, before heading to the US.
***
So, we arrived on the Sunday, and settled into the hotel. We were told not
to go outside the hotel without our escorts and that the sightseeing days
had been allocated. Again, the time went very quickly. The guys worked out
most mornings as there were only a few rehearsals and very few actual
concerts. Well, even if Fatima was letting up a bit towards the end of the
tour, I wasn't going to. The guys had once concert on Wednesday in Beijing,
and one on Sunday in Shanghai. On the Tuesday, we had a sightseeing day, and
we were taken around parts of Beijing with an escort before heading out into
the countryside, where the scenery was incredible. We went up the side of a
mountain in a creaking cable car, and we could see the tops of the clouds,
and the mountainous countryside peeking through. We had come about two hours
from Beijing, but it wasn't so far away that we couldn't see the lights as
it started to get dark in the evening. We were taken back about 8 o'clock. I
wished that I could've been closer to Kevin when we were sightseeing, this
was such a beautiful place, but the same rules apply, no matter where we
are. Everything was going by very quickly, and it was starting to piss me
off. I felt like shouting out "STOP!" every now and again, just to get
things to slow down, but I carried on because I knew this wouldn't last for
too long, and we would be finished with the tour soon: I could suddenly
understand why Kevin got bored on tours. I could see that he loved
performing: his excitement before and after he was on stage was incredible,
and he spoke so animatedly about his music to the guys and the technicians
and other people that it was obvious he was deeply attached to the music,
but all the same, it was obvious that the tour was taking its toll on Kevin,
and he seemed tired most of the time. Most nights I just end up holding him.
"Two days to go guys!" Nick shouted as he walked out of breakfast on the
26th, and I gave a confused look to Kevin. We were in Shanghai and we were
basically on a break in China until we had to go to Japan. The next day Nick
walked in and shouted out to the guys who were already eating. "One more
day!" I sighed heavily, Nick was way too loud sometimes.
"What is one more day?" I said back to him. The other guys stopped eating.
"What?" I asked.
"Ummmm, Jared, tomorrow's Thanksgiving." Nick said.
"Oh right." I said. I looked down at my food - not only did I not know it
was Thanksgiving, I didn't know what you did for a Thanksgiving. "I've never
celebrated Thanksgiving before." I said to Kevin once all the guys had left.
"It's ok." Kevin chuckled.
"Do we like give gifts at Thanksgiving."
"No." Kevin laughed out.
"Hey! You don't need to laugh - just because we don't have that holiday in
England. But shouldn't you be back in the US for this then? I thought
thanksgiving was usually a family thing?" Kevin swallowed.
"It is. But we just couldn't make it back this year, by the time we sorted
out all the arrangements and everything, got everyone flew over to their
family homes and everything, we would have to be flying back. We spoke to
our families before we left, and they agreed that we should stay away for
thanksgiving, just as long as we made it home for Christmas, or else. The
'or else' was my mum's words on the subject." He smiled and looked over at
me. I nodded and we spent the rest of the day in the gym, in the pool or in
our room. I was working through the books Brian had got me, and Kevin had
somehow managed to get hold of some American newspaper from somewhere.
***
The next day, we laid in. Only getting up around 11, and going straight in
to get showered, I came back into the bedroom to find Kevin still sleeping
with his head on his arm. I stroked his sides as I sat behind him on the
bed. His eyes slowly opened.
"Happy thanksgiving Kev." I said. "You do say that on Thanksgiving right?"
He smiled and nodded. He leant up and kissed me on the lips.
"Happy Thanksgiving Jared." He smiled and laid back down on the bed,
pulling me on top of him and kissing me passionately.
End of Chapter 21
Well, that's chapter 21 now, I know these two chapters might seem a little
rushed, or disoriented, but I've had so much work this week it's been
unbelievable, so I hope they made sense, and I hope everyone enjoyed it.
There's less than two weeks left of the tour now, so they should be back in
the US soon, and I'm hoping to bring in different and more interesting plot
structures (hence the fact I seem to be skipping countries like Scandinavia
and Russia, which quite frankly seem a little boring!). I hope everyone is
still liking the story.